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November
Tropical worm disease drug for pre-schoolers shown to work in Africa trial
Written by Nur Yasmin
An adjusted version of established drug against schistosomiasis, a tropical parasitic worm disease, has been shown to work in pre-school children, likely offering a cure for millions, Germany's Merck KGaA (MRCG.DE) said.
In a late-stage trial in Cote d'Ivoire and Kenya, more than 90% of the participants, infected children aged from three months to six years, had no more parasite eggs in their stool or urine after up to three weeks of treatment, the drugmaker said, adding it would now seek regulatory approval.
The oral drug arpraziquantel, an experimental paediatric version of standard drug praziquantel, was developed by Astellas (4503.T) in Japan and further optimised by Merck.
It was also shown to have a favourable safety and tolerability, Merck added.
Merck, acting on behalf of the non-profit Pediatric Praziquantel Consortium, will seek approval with the European Union's drug regulator under a programme for new drugs that addresses urgent needs in countries outside Europe.
The consortium confirmed the positive results in a separate statement and said that schistosomiasis is one of the most damaging parasitic diseases, affecting about 240 million people.
Praziquantel is the standard treatment for school-aged children and adults, leaving an estimated 50 million toddlers and pre-schoolers without a treatment option.
The disease, also known as bilharzia, is caused by parasitic flatworms, spreads via freshwater snails in tropical and subtropical regions across the globe but mostly affects poor and rural communities in sub-Saharan Africa. (Reuters)
November
N.Korea's Kim visits new city in first public outing in over a month
Written by Nur Yasmin
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited a new city being built near the border with China and a sacred mountain revered by his family, state media reported on Tuesday, in his first public appearance in more than a month.
The northern alpine town of Samjiyon is being transformed into a massive economic hub, called a "socialist utopia" by officials, equipped with new apartments, hotels, a ski resort and commercial, cultural and medical facilities.
The developing city is near Mount Paektu, the holy mountain where Kim's family claims its roots, and he has made multiple visits since 2018, with the official KCNA news agency touting it as "epitome of modern civilisation."
KCNA said Kim's latest trip was designed to inspect the third and last phase of construction, due to be completed by the end of this year after delays caused by international sanctions and the coronavirus pandemic.
KCNA did not give a date for Kim's visit, but it is the first report of public activity by the leader for 35 days, since he gave a speech at a defence exhibition, his longest absence since 2014.
The young, reclusive leader's disappearance from state media often sparks speculation over his health or whereabouts. South Korea's intelligence agency said late last month that he had no health issues.
"He said Samjiyon has turned into an example of a mountainous modern city under socialism and a standard of rural development thanks to the workers' steadfast struggle despite the unfavourable northern environment," KCNA said.
Kim said building the new city provided experience in construction, design and technologies that would boost economic growth for other regions.
The city is one of the largest initiatives Pyongyang has launched as part of Kim's push for a "self-reliant" economy as the country faces international sanctions over its nuclear and missile programmes.
Nearly two years after sealing borders to head off COVID-19, North Korea has recently resumed rail freight with China, the latest sign that they could reopen the border soon. (Reuters)
November
Myanmar's Suu Kyi face new charges of electoral fraud as date set for verdict
Written by Nur Yasmin
Myanmar's military authorities on Tuesday announced detained leader Aung San Suu Kyi will be prosecuted for electoral fraud and abuse of power, preparing new charges as a judge set a date for delivering the first verdict in her trial.
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Suu Kyi was one of 16 people, mostly former election commissioners, accused of involvement in "electoral processes, electoral fraud and lawless actions" some of which involved threatening local officials, according to Tuesday's announcement in state media.
Suu Kyi, who was arrested in the hours before the military's Feb. 1 coup, is facing 11 criminal cases with maximum sentences that total more than a century in jail. Those include corruption and violating the Official Secrets Act.
She appeared in court in the capital Naypyitaw on Tuesday during which a Nov. 30 date was set for delivering the first verdict in the cases against her, on the charge of incitement, according to a source with knowledge of the proceedings.
That case alleges Suu kyi and deposed President Win Myint were involved in the dissemination in the days after the coup of an unsigned letter bearing their names, which urged foreign countries not to recognise the junta.
They deny involvement because they were being held incommunicado at the time.
Their trials are taking place behind closed doors and defence lawyers, previously the only source of information on the proceedings, are currently the subjects of a gag order.
The military said it took power because its complaints of fraud by Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party, which won last year's election in a landslide, were being ignored by the election commission. The NLD says it won fairly. (Reuters)
November
Kabul passport office suspends work as demand crashes system
Written by Nur Yasmin
The Kabul passport office has been forced to suspend operations after equipment used for issuing biometric documents broke down under the pressure of processing thousands of applications a day, the head of the office said.
Worries about the future of Afghanistan under the new Taliban government and a gathering economic and humanitarian crisis that threatens millions with joblessness and hunger have fuelled an exodus, with thousands crossing the border every day.
Alam Gul Haqqani, director of the passport department, said as many as 15,000-20,000 people a day were camped outside the office in Kabul, five or six times more than the office was able to handle, with many sleeping on the pavement overnight.
Many were forced to come back day after day after failing to file their application and the biometric machines regularly broke down as they processed the documents, causing further delays, he said.
"To stop people suffering this and to avoid disturbance, we have decided to stop the activities of the passport department activities for a few days," he told Tolo News television on Monday night, adding that the office would re-open soon.
On Tuesday, the interior ministry said 60 people, including a number of members of the passport department, had been arrested for using forged or fake documents to obtain a passport. There have also been growing complaints of people being forced to pay bribes to officials to get their applications approved.
International flights have slowly begun operating again with regular services from Kabul to Dubai and Islamabad offered by state-owned Ariana Afghan Airlines and privately owned Kam Air, in addition to charter services from other carriers. (Reuters)
November
Philippines President Duterte to run for Senate, not against daughter - aide
Written by Nur Yasmin
Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte will compete for a seat in the country's Senate in elections next year, his top aide said on Monday, ending speculation that he would run for vice president against his own daughter.
The latest twist came as Monday's deadline neared for political parties to finalise candidates, keeping voters on the edge, with last-minute changes still possible in unpredictable but significant presidential and vice presidential races.
Duterte's closest aide, Christopher "Bong" Go, a senator who is running for the presidency, in a text message to Reuters confirmed a radio report that Duterte will vie for a senate seat in the 2022 polls.
Duterte is not eligible to run for president again, but he can run for other posts.
Go's remarks run counter to those on Saturday by Duterte's communications chief, who said the president would run for vice president, and challenge his daughter, Sara Duterte-Carpio, a mayor who is vying for the same position.
Presidential spokesperson, Harry Roque, ruled that out earlier on Monday.
"What I can say is – the father and daughter, President Rodrigo Roa Duterte and Mayor Inday Sara, love each other," Roque said after filing his candidacy for senator, referring to Duterte-Carpio by her nickname.
"They will never run against each other, they will never fight each other for any position."
In the Philippines, the president and vice president are elected in separate contests.
Duterte's 43-year-old daughter had been expected to run to succeed him as president due to her popularity and clear lead in all opinion polls this year on preferred candidates.
She however signed on to run for the vice president's post, but can still change her mind.
It was not yet clear who Duterte-Carpio will run with, but presidential aspirant and son of late strongman, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has said he wants her to be his running mate.
Candidates have until 0900 GMT on Monday to withdraw or switch positions by way of substitution. (Reuters)
November
New Zealand's Māori ask anti-vaccine protesters to stop using haka
Written by Nur Yasmin
A Māori tribe that claims New Zealand's most famous haka as its heritage on Monday told anti-vaccine protesters to stop using the traditional performance to promote their message.
Vaccine protesters have performed the "Ka Mate", a Māori haka composed in about 1820 by Te Rauparaha, war leader of the Ngāti Toa tribe, at their rallies over the past few weeks against vaccine mandates and pandemic restrictions. read more
"We do not support their position and we do not want our tupuna or our iwi associated with their messages," the Ngati Toa tribe, or "iwi" in Māori, said in a statement, referring to the tribe's ancestry or "tupuna".
"Our message to protesters who wish to use Ka Mate is to use a different haka. We do not endorse the use of Ka Mate for this purpose."
Although there are many forms of haka composed by different tribes for various uses and occasions, the "Ka Mate" is the most widely known because it has been performed by the All Blacks at international rugby test matches for decades.
It involves a fearsome display of rhythmic foot-stamping and chanting, eye-rolling and sticking tongues out.
New Zealand, which has among the lowest rates of COVID-19 in the world, has struggled to fight off the highly infectious Delta variant of the coronavirus this year, forcing Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to move from a strategy of elimination through lockdowns to living with the virus with higher vaccinations.
Ardern has set a target of vaccinating 90% of those eligible before ending lockdowns.
About 81% of the eligible population has received two vaccine doses but Ardern said on Monday that health authorities were struggling to reach some young Māori due to misinformation about vaccines.
"So it's not just an access issue. We are trying to overcome much more than that and from the provider conversations I've had, that is one of the things we're all struggling with," Ardern told state broadcaster TVNZ, referring to disinformation.
As of Nov. 13, 76% of Māori have received one dose of a vaccine while 60% were fully vaccinated.
Authorities reported 173 new COVID-19 cases on Monday taking New Zealand's total number of infections to more than 8,500. (Reuters)
November
Taliban hold military parade with U.S.-made weapons in Kabul in show of strength
Written by Nur Yasmin
Taliban forces held a military parade in Kabul on Sunday using captured American-made armoured vehicles and Russian helicopters in a display that showed their ongoing transformation from an insurgent force to a regular standing army.
The Taliban operated as insurgent fighters for two decades but have used the large stock of weapons and equipment left behind when the former Western-backed government collapsed in August to overhaul their forces.
The parade was linked to the graduation of 250 freshly trained soldiers, defence ministry spokesman Enayatullah Khwarazmi said.
The exercise involved dozens of U.S.-made M117 armoured security vehicles driving slowly up and down a major Kabul road with MI-17 helicopters patrolling overhead. Many soldiers carried American made-M4 assault rifles.
Most of the weapons and equipment the Taliban forces are now using are those supplied by Washington to the American-backed government in Kabul in a bid to construct an Afghan national force capable of fighting the Taliban.
Those forces melted away with the fleeing of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani from Afghanistan - leaving the Taliban to take over major military assets.
Taliban officials have said that pilots, mechanics and other specialists from the former Afghan National Army would be integrated into a new force, which has also started wearing conventional military uniforms in place of the traditional Afghan clothing normally worn by their fighters.
According to a report late last year by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (Sigar), the U.S. government transferred to the Afghan government more than $28 billion worth of defence articles and services, including weapons, ammunition, vehicles, night-vision devices, aircraft, and surveillance systems, from 2002 to 2017.
Some of the aircraft were flown into neighbouring Central Asian Countries by fleeing Afghan forces, but the Taliban have inherited other aircraft. It remains unclear how many are operational.
As the U.S. troops departed, they destroyed more than 70 aircraft, dozens of armoured vehicles and disabled air defences before flying out of Kabul's Hamid Karzai International Airport following a chaotic evacuation operation. (Reuters)
November
Japan's economy shrinks more than expected as supply shortages hit
Written by Nur Yasmin
Japan's economy contracted much faster than expected in the third quarter as global supply disruptions hit exports and business spending while new COVID-19 cases soured the consumer mood, undermining efforts to stoke a virtuous growth cycle.
While many analysts expect the world's third-largest economy to rebound this quarter as virus curbs ease, worsening global production bottlenecks pose increasing risks to export-reliant Japan.
"The contraction was far bigger than expected due to supply-chain constraints, which hit car output and capital spending hard," said Takeshi Minami, chief economist at Norinchukin Research Institute.
"We expect the economy to stage a rebound this quarter but the pace of recovery will be slow as consumption did not get off to a good start even after COVID-19 curbs were eased late in September."
The economy shrank an annualised 3.0% in July-September after a revised 1.5% gain in the second quarter, preliminary gross domestic product (GDP) data showed on Monday, much worse than a median market forecast of a 0.8% contraction.
The weak GDP contrasts with more promising readings from other advanced countries such as the United States, where the economy expanded 2.0% in the third quarter on strong pent-up demand.
In China, factory output and retail sales unexpectedly rose in October, data on Monday showed, despite supply shortages and new COVID-19 curbs. read more
On a quarter-on-quarter basis, Japan's GDP fell 0.8% compared with market forecasts for a 0.2% decline.
Some analysts said Japan's heavy dependence on the auto industry meant its economy was more vulnerable to trade disruptions than other countries.
Shinichiro Kobayashi, principal economist at Mitsubishi UFJ Research and Consulting, said automakers make up a large part of Japan's manufacturing sector with a wide range of subcontractors directly affected.
STIMULUS PLAN
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced plans to compile a large-scale economic stimulus package worth "several tens of trillion yen" on Friday, but some economists were sceptical about its impact on growth near-term.
The package will feature a plan to urgently strengthen the chip industry while the government will also formulate a strategy for storage batteries, key to the green and digital growth areas, trade minister Koichi Hagiuda said. read more
However, some analysts were sceptical about the impact of the stimulus.
"The package will likely be a mixed bag of near-term and long-term growth measures, and the focus may be blurred, so it won't have much impact near-term," Norinchukin's Minami said.
Consumption fell 1.1% in July-September from the previous quarter after a 0.9% gain in April-June.
Capital expenditure also decreased 3.8% after rising a revised 2.2% in the previous quarter.
Domestic demand shaved off 0.9% point to GDP growth.
Exports lost 2.1% in July-September from the previous quarter as trade was hurt by chip shortages and supply-chain constraints.
Analysts polled by Reuters expect Japan's economy to expand an annualised 5.1% in the current quarter, as consumer activity and auto output pick up. read more
However, Japanese firms still face risks from higher commodity costs and supply bottlenecks, which threaten to undermine the economic outlook over the short- to mid-term.
Real GDP, which factors in the effects of inflation, won't return to pre-pandemic levels until the second half of 2023, said Takahide Kiuchi, a former Bank of Japan board member who now serves as chief economist at Nomura Research Institute.
"China's slowdown, supply constraints, rising energy prices and a slowdown in inflation-hit Western countries will reduce the pace of growth towards mid-2022," Kiuchi said.
"As exports remain severe, Japan's economy will likely undergo moderate growth of around 1%-2% annualised in the second quarter onwards, even taking effects of stimulus into account." (Reuters)
November
Philippines starts to reopen schools after 20-month coronavirus closure
Written by Nur Yasmin
Thousands of children in the Philippines returned to school on Monday for the first time in nearly two years, kicking off a pilot scheme to resume face-to-face learning after the pandemic disrupted the education of 27 million students.
A hundred public schools in lower-risk areas are holding classes in person for a two-month pilot run, with the reopening of more dependent on vaccination rates and a sustained decline in COVID-19 cases.
The Philippines, which had imposed some of the world's longest lockdowns, is among the last countries to reopen schools, in stark contrast to many western countries.
"We are happy to see our learners inside our classrooms as we recognise the significance of face-to-face learning in their social development," the education ministry said in a statement.
Authorities have reduced class sizes by half and allowed only vaccinated teachers and school personnel to interact with students.
Photos shared on social media showed students wearing masks and inside classrooms with chairs and tables separated by plastic sheets, while hand-washing stations were installed.
The United Nations children's agency UNICEF has backed the Philippines' phased, voluntary and safe reopening of schools, as it has warned the "learning crisis could turn into a learning catastrophe".
The availability of computers, phones and internet, and the uneven education quality, have been cited as challenges for remote learners in the Philippines, where some children have to climb onto roofs to get data signals.
In a report in April, the Asian Development Bank estimated school closures of more than a year could slash future earnings among the region's students by as much as $1.25 trillion, equivalent to 5.4% of 2020 GDP.
"The DedEd (Department of Education) is excited for the children as they go back to schools, but there's also a bit of anxiety," Roger Masapol, director of planning service unit, said in a radio interview. (Reuters)
November
Several outbreaks of severe bird flu in Europe and Asia have been reported in recent days to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), in a sign the virus is spreading quickly again.
The spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza, commonly called bird flu, has put the poultry industry on alert after previous outbreaks led to the culling of tens of millions of birds. Outbreaks also often lead to trade restrictions.
It is attracting the attention too of epidemiologists as the virus can be transmitted to humans. China has reported 21 human infections with the H5N6 subtype of avian influenza so far this year, more than in the whole of 2020. read more
South Korea reported an outbreak at a farm of around 770,000 poultry in Chungcheongbuk-do, the OIE said on Monday, citing a report from the South Korean authorities. All animals were slaughtered.
Also in Asia, Japan reported its first outbreak of the 2021 winter season, at a poultry farm in the northeast of the country, the OIE said, confirming a statement last week by Japan's agriculture ministry. The serotype in this outbreak was H5N8 read more
In Europe, Norway reported an H5N1 bird flu outbreak in the Rogaland region in a flock of 7,000 birds, the OIE said.
Outbreaks generally occur in the autumn, spread by migrating wild birds.
The Belgian government put the country on increased risk for bird flu, ordering poultry to be kept indoors as of Monday, after a highly pathogenic variant of bird flu was identified in a wild goose near Antwerp. read more
This followed a similar move in neighbouring France earlier this month and in the Netherlands in October. (Reuters)